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Doug was quite familiar with concussions and thus was certain he had one. He felt both dizzy and tired and wanted nothing more than to just lay where he was. He was also hurting all over and pretty sure he was bleeding, but not so much he felt a desperate need to do something about it. Still, he heard others moaning around him and footsteps nearby and knew he couldn't just hope things turned out all right.

Doug felt around for one of his weapons, and screamed as a foot stomped down on his hand. "There you are," said a female voice.

He looked up to see another woman completely covered in body armor, a rifle slung over her shoulder. "What do you want?"

"A spectacle." She grabbed Doug and dragged him out of the car. Doug struggled to his feet, but she kicked him and sent him slamming into a wall, something striking him in the small of the back before he fell to the ground. The train appeared to have crashed in an abandoned part of town. Most cities had whole sections that had become ghost towns due to the huge decrease in population from the War.

"Haven't you killed enough?"

"For now." She punched Doug in the face and then rifled through his coat until she pulled out the cube. "I want you to open this."

Doug slowly stood up. "Even if I knew how, I wouldn't just because you psychos want me to."

"Even if in it is the secret to fighting the Transcendents?"

Doug let go of his anger long enough to become curious. "Do you know what's in it?"

"We know why we want it. We're fighting against the Trans."

"But you work for Elza."

She laughed. "Well, not against all the Trans then."

"But why kill all these people?"

She held the cube close to Doug's face. He didn't feel the depression and despair as much as he did before but he still moved away from it. "If only you knew how small a matter that was," she said, "you wouldn't even give it a moment's thought."

Doug pushed backed into the wall and felt the object in the small of his back again. Now he remembered what that was. "I guess I shouldn't think too much about this, then." He pulled out his snub-nose revolver and shot the soldier in the face. He wasn't sure the bullet penetrated the helmet, but she did go down. No one, under any conditions, likes being shot in the face. Picking up the cube, he was about to head back for the train when he saw a group of people walk towards him. His vision was blurry, but he could see all were in black except for the one at front.

The leader made a motion, and the gun was knocked out of Doug's hand like it had been hit by a strong gust of wind. "We're not here to hurt you," the man said. Doug could finally see who it was: Darius backed by a dozen Protectors. "Luckily, Asmod was able to convince Viath of the importance of getting the cube back in proper hands, so he allowed my people passage here. Looks like we were just in time." He walked over to Doug and took the cube from Doug's hand and looked it over. "How did it get bunnies on it?"

A part of Doug felt he should snatch the cube back, but he had no idea what he'd be trying to do to fight these people. Plus, there were more important things on mind. "You have your cube. I need help finding my friends now."

"If you mean Charlene Marshal, she already with us and she's fine. My understanding is your two other associates are far enough away from this that there is no risk to them. Now, for discretion's sake, we need to be out of here before Viath's people arrive to clean up this mess."

Some Protectors roughly led Doug away with Darius. They soon came to a large transport. They pushed Doug inside where he saw Charlene and Lara seated next to each other. Charlene immediately embraced Doug, tears in here eyes. "I thought you were dead!"

He patted her on the back. "I'm okay. So what's going on?"

"Did you get the cube?" Lara asked.

Darius entered and shut the door. "That he did."

Doug let go of Charlene and turned to Darius. "So it's all good then? We get paid and can go our separate ways?"

Darius looked a moment at the cube in his hand and then at Doug. "I'm afraid our deal has changed."

* * * *

"Anything new?" It was perfunctory question, as Lulu had laid her head on Bryce's shoulder and could see the screen as well as he could.

"Nothing new." They then had to wait to catch a train back to Avaro. It was now approaching evening and the sun was beginning to set, and all they knew of their friends was that there was a terrorist attack on the train resulting in an unspecified number of deaths.

The handheld computer beeped, indicating a new message. Lulu sat up. "Maybe that's them!"

"Maybe." Bryce checked the message, and it was perhaps the most shocking piece of news he had ever received.

"What is it?" Lulu asked with concern. She then glimpsed at the screen. "Holy flipping ninjas!"

The message was from his bank. Three million had been deposited into his account. Bryce slowly regained his composure. "I guess we did it."

"Go team Hellbender!" Lulu weakly pumped her fist in the air. "That must mean Charlene and Doug are okay if they got the cube and delivered it."

"But if they aren't okay, then that just means we get their shares. Good new either way," Bryce joked weakly. He checked his account again just to make sure it was no mistake. It wasn't. He was rich. The world was as it should be. The other details were unimportant. Still, one thing nagged at him. "That's five hundred thousand more than we agreed to. I wonder what that's for?"

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Hellbender Take Two
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